‘I want to be open’ – Antonio Conte opens up on life after Gian Piero Ventrone

It has now been just over a month since the tragic passing of Gian Piero Ventrone, the beloved fitness coach at Tottenham and long-time friend of Antonio Conte. Speaking ahead of this weekend’s action, Conte opened up on what life is like without Ventrone.

Ventrone joined Conte at Spurs last November and revolutionised the fitness levels of the players at the club. The results were clear to see, and still are to this day, as Spurs continue to fight to the last minutes of games and more often than not, outrun their opponents on the pitch.

The passing of Ventrone had quite the impact on the Spurs players, with Heung-min Son admitting it ‘hurts talking about him’ (Football.London). Rodrigo Bentancur (Sky Sports) and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Football.London) also paid tribute to the veteran coach.

For Antonio Conte, it was not only a colleague he lost but an old friend, and the loss was visibly profound for Conte at the time. Speaking to Football.London ahead of the Leeds United match this weekend, Conte revealed how it feels to not have Ventrone around.

Conte said: “I want to be open and say in these 43 days, not only 13 games, it has been a difficult emotional moment, to lose a person like Gian Piero is terrible, not only for me but for also many players. Many players had a great relationship with him. I think someone had a big loss in his heart.

“Life is this and you have to go forward and move on. We continue to work in the same way. Don’t forget I brought Gian Piero with me to Tottenham, he had been in China helping Fabio Cannavaro and also Fabio Capello.

“The work is always the same. there is a lack of human aspect and his experience, his relationship with the players. You know it was a big loss for us.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It doesn’t get any easier really, does it, and you can tell that Gian Piero Ventrone’s passing is still a cause of much pain for Antonio Conte, but he definitely has the right mantra in trying to move on and focus on the task at hand and do him proud.

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